Responding to concerns over the inadequacy of Abilene’s hotel facilities, Colonel W. L. Beckman built this hotel, which he named for his daughter. The four-story red brick hotel was the first building travelers saw as they stepped off the train. The exterior is articulated with pilasters and stone stringcourses above the third- and fourth-floor windows. The parapet has a corbeled brick cornice that flares above each pilaster, and the end bays have small gables. The fourth floor was added in 1924.
The hotel was renamed the Drake in 1946 and closed in 1973. David S. Castle’s architectural office was housed here, as was that of his successor firm, Tittle, Luther and Loving. A group led by the Abilene Preservation League purchased the derelict hotel in 1987, and the museum opened in 1992 for art exhibitions.